The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday ordered re-counting of votes for the election of Punjab’s chief minister held on April 16, instructing that the votes of 25 dissident PTI lawmakers be excluded from the counting process.<\/p>\n
A five-member bench comprising Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan, Justice Shahid Jamil Khan, Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry, Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh announced the verdict with a 4-1 majority.<\/p>\n
In a short order issued after the hearing, the LHC instructed that votes in the election held on April 16 be recounted after excluding 25 votes of the defecting lawmakers. If the required majority for Hamza \u2014 which is 186 votes in the 371-member strong house \u2014 to stay the CM is not secured, the election will be held again under Article 130(4), unless another candidate has majority votes.<\/p>\n
According to Article 130(4), in the second round of voting, a member will not require 186 votes but simply needs a majority of those “present and voting” to be elected the chief minister.<\/p>\n
The court said that Hamza will cease to be the chief minister if he loses the required majority after the exclusion of 25 votes by the presiding officer. However, it pointed out, functions performed and powers exercised by Hamza will be “protected under the de facto doctrine” in accordance with the law.<\/p>\n
For the recounting of votes and re-election, if required, a PA session will be held on July 1 (tomorrow) at 4pm. The LHC stressed that the session cannot be prorogued until the election process was completed and the presiding officer “intimated the result of the elected chief minister to the governor”.<\/p>\n
The governor shall preform his duty, under Article 130(5), of administering oath without any hesitation, at any time before 11am the very next day, it directed.<\/p>\n
The court added that “any attempt of disorder from any quarter shall be taken as contempt of court and shall be proceeded accordingly by this larger bench on formal information by any person”.<\/p>\n
Hamza was elected as the Punjab CM on April 16 during a provincial assembly session that was marred by violence. He received a total of 197 votes \u2014 11 more than the required 186 \u2014 including from 25 dissident PTI MPAs that were crucial for his victory. On May 20, those lawmakers were de-seated by the ECP for defecting.<\/p>\n
After the LHC’s order of excluding the votes of 25 defecting members, Hamza’s tally has now been trimmed to 172 votes, which no longer holds the strength of the house. Therefore, as per the court’s order, a re-election is bound to be held.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday ordered re-counting of votes for the election of Punjab’s chief minister held on April 16, instructing that the votes of 25 dissident PTI lawmakers be excluded from the counting process. A five-member bench comprising Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan, Justice Shahid Jamil Khan, Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry, Justice Sajid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[452,1669,158,3464],"class_list":{"0":"post-269011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"tag-election","9":"tag-lhc","10":"tag-pti","11":"tag-punjab-cm"},"yoast_head":"\n